HP’s interim CEO addresses key issues at the Citigroup tech conference

Photo credit: HP

HP’s interim CEO Cathie Lesjak, whom was installed after Mark Hurd’s less-then-celebrated exit, spoke recently the Citigroup technology conference about several items that have made news recently regarding her company. Amongst the issues she addressed are HP’s search for a new CEO, their lawsuit against their former CEO Hurd, and their recent acquisition of cloud storage and services company 3PAR.

Regarding HP’s CEO search, ZDNet quotes Lesjask as stating:

…the search committee is committed to “moving the process through quickly.” HP is “actively interviewing”CEO candidates. “We’ve been very pleased with the selection of candidates. There was some worry that there wouldn’t be that many. That certainly hasn’t been the issue,” said Lesjak.

Lesjask also went on to say that in their CEO search they are looking at candidates both internally and externally.

When speaking of HP’s lawsuit against Mark Hurd and their relationship with competitor Oracle, Lesjak said:

Lesjak said that the company hasn’t sued Oracle. “We have sued Mark,” she said. “It’s important for him to be reminded he signed (confidentiality) agreements,” she said.

Alluding to Oracle’s response to the Hurd suit, Lesjak was optimistic that HP will patch up what she called a strained relationship. Oracle called HP vindictive and questioned whether the two companies could work together.

“At the end of the day business will prevail. Ultimately we’ll go back to being good partners. I believe HP is important to Oracle and Oracle is an important partner of ours,” she said.

Finally, when addressing HP’s purchase of 3PAR, Lesjak stated that she was pleased that after a long bidding war with DELL, her company to acquire a company that provides services in a market with huge projected growth potential. As to whether or not HP might have overpaid for 3PAR, she stated:

“It gives us our own IP on the high-end storage market,” she explained. “And with higher margins. We think this is going to situate us very well.” She added that 3Par gross margins were higher than 60 percent.

Lesjak also said the risk/reward scenario added up for 3Par. She added that HP’s winning bid was still below the “walk away price” for the company. “We had a walk away price and believe it will generate more than the cost of capital.”

It is good to see that even as an interim CEO, Lesjak seems to have vision and leadership skills enough to pull HP through what has been a busy and sometimes chaotic series of events, both positive and negative. As the worlds largest technology company, HP has huge amount of balls in the air to juggle in many dynamic and highly competitive spaces. Let’s hope their next CEO is at least as competent as their interim selection, or Hewlett-Packard and consequently Palm might be in for some very hard times in the future.

[Source: ZDNet]